09 October 2010

The saga continues...

In one week, I would have stayed here in Japan or outside my home country for 6 months. My previous record was 63 days, also here in Japan as a short-term researcher back in 2005 and chronicled in earlier Japan Blog posts. I've taken a vacation a number of times in the US for more than 60 days, but I was not working then and I was with family and was able to enjoy Filipino cuisine every so often, and so it didn't really feel like away from home.

Alas, I'm visiting home today to see the love of my life, live and in person, once again. And it'll be for just under 48 hours.

Anyways, the Inglish and Engrish experience continues. And yes, those are two different things.

Now, Engrish, I can understand why and how it is so. Engrish-speaking people do not claim to be good at English. In fact, even if they can speak English quite well, they are humble enough to always say they are not good in it. Though for me, these often humble Engrish-speakers really are good in English, considering it's not an official language nor is it their first language. Now, Inglish is something else. In Inglish, English has been distorted to a point where instead of requiring understanding which you might need to understand Engrish-speaking people, you need instead to just pretend you didn't hear anything. Good luck with that. And these Inglish-speaking people claim it is one of their national languages, and they won't ever claim they're not good in it. In fact, knowing that I'm not from a native English speaking country myself (oh, but they won't think they're not from a native English speaking country), they would even try to correct me at times. Like, about telling the difference between "come" and "go."

You probably heard some Inglish experiences of mine from previous blog posts here. Like "Too much tired is there." And in one video, "Your white will not record it." Here are some recent Inglish experiences I encountered.

Inglish-speaker A wants to BORROW something from Inglish-speaker B. So Inglish-speaker B says, "Inglish-speaker A will lend that something." Get it?

Another Inglish-speaker writes down "Barrower's Log" at one of our ad hoc libraries. Later, he e-mails a professor to ask if we can "post phone" our class because we are going on a technical tour.

During class, our Japanese professor encountered the term "a priori" in a book. He asks the class, what is it? The Inglish-speakers say, "it means something PRIOR." Yeah right. Look it up on Google, folks. It's not as simple as something prior.

During the same class, our Japanese professor encountered the term "rule-of-thumb" in the same book. He asks the class, what is it? The Inglish-speakers say, "it means THUMB RULE." Oh. My. Goo-Lie.

And last but not least... Mt Fuji becomes Mt Fugi. Ali (as in Muhammad Ali) becomes Ally. Ronjie becomes Rongi. Philippines, pronounced Fili-Peens normally, becomes pronounced like "Philly Pines." You know what, Inglish-speakers, I try my best not to misspell nor mispronounce your name. I hope you do, too. Well, that is if you can understand this English. :D

Anyways, I'm not generalizing of course. I've met and known some really smart Inglish-speakers before, who can actually pass as English-speakers. Always note that these are but just isolated cases.